Food container

ABSTRACT

Container for heating food in an electrical bread toaster or other radiant heating device comprises a closed or partially open pouch formed of flexible sheet material comprsing a woven fabric, such as glass or KEVLAR fibers, coated or impregnated with an electrically non-conductive heat resistant material, for example PTFE.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national stage filing under 35 U.S.C. 371 of PCTapplication PCT/GB00/02409 filed Jun. 22, 2000, which claims priorityfrom British application GB 9914695.3 filed Jun. 24, 1999 and fromBritish application 0010801.9 filed May 4, 2000. The entire disclosuresof these three applications are incorporated herein by reference.

The invention relates to a container to hold food to be heated in atoaster.

A conventional toaster, with one or more upright slots and banks ofradiant heaters located at either side of each toaster slot, providesrapid heating of bread and has also been used for other food items suchas waffles, crumpets etc. It is known to heat food in metal foilpackages in a toaster although such packages require perforation inorder to cook adequately due to the impermeability of the metal foil.Such perforations are required in order that the radiant heat may enterthe package and that steam produced by the heating process is allowed toexit, without which the food will not brown.

Other techniques involve metal racks, grilles, or mesh arrangementswhich are inserted into the toaster to hold a whole sandwich or otherfood together. Apart from being cumbersome, these all involve theintroduction of metal objects by hand into the toaster where lethalvoltages are present. There is also the problem of containment of anyexcess moisture from non-bread foods that will tend to drip out of thecontainer into the toaster where it is difficult to clean.

It is one object of this invention to provide an improved container forheating food in an energised toaster.

According to the present invention in one aspect there is provided acontainer for heating food in a toaster, the container comprising twofacing walls sealed along three edges to define a pouch having an openmouth, the walls being formed of two layers, one outside the other, theouter layer comprising an electrically non-conductive and heat resistantmaterial, and the inner layer being a woven fabric having sufficientthermal conductivity to heat, in use, food contained in the pouch whenin an energised toaster.

According to a second aspect there is provided A container for heatingfood in a radiant heat generating device, the container including atleast one wall for receiving said radiant heat and made of a wovenfabric coated and/or impregnated with an electrically non-conductive andheat resistant material, the wall having sufficient thermal conductivityto transmit said heat to food contained in the container.

It is preferred that the outer layer is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)or tetrafluoroethylene (TEFLON®). It is also preferred that the innerlayer is a weave of glass or poly(p-phenyleneterepthalamide) (KEVLAR®)strands. However, other materials suitable for this purpose are notexcluded.

It is preferred that the container has at least one tab or handle forremoving the container from the toaster.

Preferably fluid-absorbing means are present inside the container,having hydrophilic and lipophilic properties to absorb excess moistureof fats produced by the food during heating. Such means may be attachedor loosely placed within the container at its base.

Different means may be provided in order to alter the thermalconductivity of the container material. This may be necessary incircumstances where it is necessary to cook the centre of an articlethoroughly, as generally the outer surface of the food cooks morequickly. The inside of the container preferably has a reflectiveexternal coating or layer of metal foil or wire. However, it is withinthe scope of the invention to alter the thermal conductivity of thecontainer by varying the pigment colour of the material; for instance awhite pigment will retard the heating process and a black pigment willaid the transfer of heat to the interior of the container.

The container is sized so as to fit into a slot of a toaster, and is ofsufficient height to allow an adequate proportion of the container toproject above the top of the toaster body in use, such that the userwill not feel the heat of the container when removing it from thetoaster. However, in practice removal of the container is not a problemdue to the excellent thermal properties of the container material, whichis cool enough to touch within seconds of ejection form the toaster.

According to the invention in another aspect there is provided a methodof heating food in a toaster by adding food to a container comprisingtwo facing walls sealed along three edges to define a pouch having anopen mouth, the walls being formed of two layers, one outside the other,the outer layer comprising an electrically non-conductive and heatresistant material, and the inner layer being a woven fabric havingsufficient thermal conductivity to heat, in use, food contained in thepouch when in an energised toaster; the method comprising inserting thecontainer into the slot of a toaster, energising the toaster for asufficient time period for the food to be heated, and then removing thecontainer from the toaster.

It may be desirable to seal the pouch on all sides to contain a varietyof foods for storage prior to sale, in order to form a range ofconvenience foods. The pouch may be provided with means for manualopening such as a draw string or tear strip provided on one or moresides, ideally at the top of the pouch as supported in the toaster. Sucha range of convenience foods would be ideal for sale at garages, pubsand the like, where instant heating is paramount.

The invention will now be described by way of example only withreference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one container of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another container of the invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of the edge of one side wall ofthe container of FIG. 2, labelled X in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross section through a toaster housing the FIG. 2container; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another container.

One container of FIG. 1 is made from a sheet of material comprisingwoven glass or KEVLAR fibre 11 is sprayed with pigmented PTFE on bothsides to form outer layers 12—the woven base material 11 cannot be seenin the actual product—a portion of one of the layers 12 is removed inFIG. 2 for illustration purposes. The sheet is folded at two oppositeedges and welded at a central seam 20 and a lower edge to form a pouchwith two facing opposite walls 2 and 3. A slotted hole is provided atthe top of each wall 2 and 3.

A sandwich, beans, bacon or even scrambled egg mix may be placed in thepouch and the pouch then placed in the bread slot of an electrical breadtoaster. The radiant heat from the toaster elements then cooks or heatsthe contents of the pouch.

The holes 8 form handles for retrieving the pouch from the toaster. Thecontainer 1 of FIG. 2 again comprises two facing walls 2,3 which arejoined along three edges 4,5,6 to define a pouch, having one edge opento form a mouth 7. Below the mouth 7 of the container 1 aligned holesare formed (only one of which is visible) in both facing walls 2,3 toform a handle 8 for removal of the container 1 from a toaster. The foodto be cooked is placed in the container 1. In this case, the container 1is accommodating a cheese sandwich 9 to be toasted. Fluid absorbingmaterial 10 is located in the bottom of the pouch to draw excessmoisture and fats away from the sandwich 9 allowing it to brown.

For both FIGS. 1 and 2, the facing walls 2,3 of the container 1 are madeup of two layers 11,12. The inner layer 11 is a woven materialcontaining strands of a material with high thermal conductivity such asKEVLAR® (poly(p-phenyleneterepthalamide). The outer layer 12 is acoating of an electrically non-conductive and heat resistant materialsuch as TEFLON (tetrafluoroethylene). A suitable KEVLAR® reinforced.TEFLON® coated material is available commercially under the trade markTYGAFLOR and is produced by Tygaflor Ltd.

The container 1 is generally formed from single sheet of material, byfolding a strip in half and sealing the ends using heat and pressure toform a tube, and then securing one end of the tube to form a pouch.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of a typical toaster 13 of the paralleltype having two slots 14,15 and three heating elements E. A container 1of the invention containing a sandwich 9 is seated in each of the twoslots 14,15. The height of the container 1 is such that when placed intothe toaster 13 the top of the facing walls 2,3 of the container 1project from the top of the toaster body 13, providing a cool portion 16of the container 1 to aid removal from the toaster 13 once the food 9 iscooked. The toaster is energised in the usual ways until the food isheated.

Instead of an electric bread toaster, the container of FIG. 1 or 2 maybe heated in alternative radiant heating apparatus, for example a grillor microwave oven of the kind having a combined radiant heater (notshown).

The invention is not limited to the embodiment shown. For example, othermaterials may be used to produce the container 1; all four edges 4,5,6,7may be sealed and a tear strip or other means may be provided foropening the container; alternative handle or tab arrangements may beused; the edges may be folded prior to sealing to reduce the risk ofleakage; one or more of the edges may be fixed using a clip or clamp;and the corners of the container may be radiused to permit moreeffective cleaning. The container may also be manufactured from twoseparate sheets of material forming the front and back facing walls 2,3.The material of the container 1 is flexible enough to allow thecontainer to be turned inside out for easy cleaning either by hand or byplacing over a plate prong in a dishwasher. However, it is within thescope of the invention to use a more rigid material to make thecontainer suitable for certain uses, for example, for point of saledisplay of a pre-packed convenience food designed for single use anddisposal.

To achieve optimum heating characteristics, the container walls couldcomprise PTFE which is pigmented or aluminised or a metallic foil ormesh could be incorporated (not shown).

The embodiment of FIG. 5 comprises a pouch 40 comprising two flexiblewalls 41 and 42 sealed all round the periphery of the pouch, forexample, by welding or by having a weldable tape (not shown) attachedbetween the peripheral portions of the walls 41 and 42. The tape may bemade of PFA. A portion of food 43 (for example, french fries) isenclosed in the pouch 40. The walls 41 and 42 are made of glass meshimpregnated with PTFE (by being sprayed onto the mesh). The walls are ofrelatively low thickness (for example with a gauge of less than 150 gmper square meter, or less than 100 or better less than 80, or even about60 to 65 grams per square meter so that they are porous to steam emittedby the food in the pouch when heated, i.e. so they are gas permeable butdo not let out appreciable liquid.

The walls 41 and 42 could be perforated to improve porosity. Tohermetically seal or at least keep reasonably airtight, the food withinthe container 40, the latter could be supplied sealed inside an outerbag which is removed prior to heating.

In all the embodiments, the container walls could be connected togetherby a means other than welding, for example by stitching or by a clip orclamp device (not shown)

1. A method for heating food in a container, the container comprising awall comprising a woven fabric and an electrically non-conductive andheat-resistant material; the method comprising: inserting the food intothe container; inserting the container containing the food into a slotof a toaster; energizing said toaster for a sufficient time period toheat the food; and removing the container containing the heated foodfrom the toaster.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method furthercomprises removing the heated food from the container.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the method further comprises, after inserting the foodinto the container, sealing the container.
 4. The method of claim 2,wherein the method further comprises, after removing the containercontaining the heated food from the toaster, opening the sealedcontainer.